Telling someone to stop being anxious is like telling you not to think about an elephant. The very act of trying not to think of an elephant almost guarantees that at this very moment most of you are thinking of elephants.
The human mind is not designed in a way that responds to the instruction, "Don’t think about..."While our minds are not designed to respond to an instruction to stop thinking about something. Our minds are designed in such a manner that we can replace one pattern of thought with another. Indeed this is the basis behind one of the most successful secular approaches to treating people with emotional problems. It is called Cognitive Therapy. Or the therapy concerned with thought processes and they talk about re-framing our thoughts or learning to see things from another perspective.
That is the first key. Not Stop being Anxious but Start trusting. This principle was not discovered by Psychology. God spells it out clearly in Philippians Ch 4:4-9
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. and the peace of god which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ.
finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.....and the god of peace will be with you.
Did you notice. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything. focus on the fact that the lord is near not on the difficulties.
Did you also notice. He does not tell us to stop thinking about the negative rather he tells us to start thinking about the positive.
As we focus on the positive it will result in a change of behaviours.
What about the second half "Start Praying" Is this the answer? Well not entirely. As I am sure you have all experienced we can pray and remain anxious.
I have become convinced that what we frequently do is actually instead of Turning our Anxieties into Prayers" we "Turn our Prayers into Anxieties"
Yes I know that sounds a little odd. But sadly it is precisely what we all do most of the time. We pray about a situation, a problem or a decision then having prayed we worry, we remain anxious. The praying has not removed the problem simply focused our attention on the enormity of the problem.
How often have prayed then gone on unchanged.
Why?
The children of Israel were in an impossible situation. Literally stuck between an uncross able sea and an army set on their destruction. They were not just anxious they were terrified. They expected to die a painful torturous death at any moment. They tried praying but that did not remove the fear.
Moses said all the right words: 13 Moses told the people, Fear not, stand still (firm, confident, undismayed) and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you shall never see again.14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.
You can’t fault him. Stop being anxious, start praying was his message. But it was NOT God’s message. Listen to God’s response: 15 The Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to Me? Or to paraphrase it. Why are you praying? This is not the time for a prayer meeting. Listen to the word of God as we find it in verses 15 to 18
15 The Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to Me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward!
16 Lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, and the Israelites shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
17 And I, behold, I will harden, make stubborn and strong, the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go [into sea] after them; and I will get Me honour over Pharaoh, and all his host chariots, and horsemen.
18 The Egyptians shall know realise that I am the Lord, when I gotten Me honour and glory over Pharoah his chariots, and his horse
Indeed God told them to stop praying and start putting their beliefs into action. To start living their prayers rather than just reciting them.
This reminded me of Hebrews 11:6 Without faith it is impossible to please God
But I would suggest that the faith spoken about in this verse is more than just simply believing. In James 2:19 we are told that even the Devil believes. What God wants is belief that results in changed behaviour.
Do you remember Dave Wilkinson? He wrote the book Run Baby Run. Well he is now pastor of Times Square Church in New York.
I was recently reading some of his sermons and a phrase jumped out of the page.
The fact is, God doesn’t jump every time we cry, "Lord, I give it all to you!"
God knows that consecration, surrender and hunger for Christ don’t always accompany a one-time, emotional cry. Therefore, his Spirit doesn’t respond until he sees in us a sustained determination some kind of evidence that we won’t turn back.
In another of his sermons Dave Wilkinson said:
True freedom from fear consists of totally resigning one’s life into the hands of the Lord
He continues: resigning ourselves into God’s care is an act of faith. It means putting ourselves completely under His power, wisdom and mercy, to be led and preserved according to His will alone. And, if we do so, the God of the universe promises to be totally responsible for us to feed, clothe and shelter us, and guard our hearts from evil.
So turning off anxiety requires more than simply praying. It needs a change of perspective. We need to come to the point where we are prepared to entrust our all to God and then to start living a life which shows that this is trust is real.
To come to that point I would suggest we need to do a few things.
1. We need to be convinced that God has the Power, the wisdom and the willingness to protect us.
2 Timothy 1:12 "I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him..."
Do you know who you have believed?
Are you convinced that He is able to do all that needs doing in order to guard you?
2. Our words and our actions must demonstrate our faith. No more negative speech. "Oh my life is sooo hard, I am sooo worried.
In Matthew 12:34 Jesus says "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" In other words your speech is a very good indicator of what is inside. We need to guard our speech. It can destroy faith.